The understandings reached by the foreign ministers of Iran, the US, Russia, the UK, France, China and Germany, as well as the High Representative of the European Union, in the early hours of November 24, are a fine diplomatic achievement. They reflect creditably on all parties to the negotiation as they bear the hallmarks of a determined and creative search for the common ground that is the Holy Grail of wise and honorable negotiators. The agreement addresses Western and Israeli concerns that Iran has gradually been moving towards a position from which it could hope to produce enough weapons-grade enriched uranium for one device in so short a time, that the UN Security Council would be left flat-footed. It also outlines some of the elements of which a “comprehensive solution,” to be negotiated in the coming months, is to be composed.